No. 6 Puget Sound got a first-half wakeup call from its former coach's new team, but went on a 17-2 run early in the second half and cruised to an 82-72 win against Whitman. The Loggers (21-2, 14-0 NWC) beat Eric Bridgeland twice in his first season with Whitman, though at 9-14, the Missionaries are having their best year since 2002. Puget Sound last lost on Dec. 6 and its two losses are to NAIA teams that are a combined 36-13.
No. 3 UW-Stevens Point missed a chance to wrap up a key WIAC road game and instead took its first conference loss. The Pointers failed to control a UW-Whitewater missed shot with five seconds left, allowing Tyson Kingsby to hit a three with 1.1 seconds on the clock and lift the No. 5 Warhawks 80-78 in overtime. Myles McKay scored 35 for Whitewater. Saturday's men's scores. Scroll down for women's coverage.
&&f-boxr&&No. 23 Centre scored the first 22 points of the game and No. 22 DePauw shot 3-for-21 in the first half. Not surprisingly, that added up to a 75-50 win for Centre, splitting the season series and putting DePauw far down the bubble for an at-large bid to the NCAA Field of 60. One day later, Amherst came up with the win at home against No. 13 Middlebury, but will still have to travel to Vermont for the conference semifinals and finals if both win next Saturday's quarterfinals. Trinity (Conn.), which nearly upset Middlebury on Friday night, did knock off Williams on Saturday 83-73, preserving the No. 2 seed for Amherst.
No. 7 Buena Vista pulled off another close victory, winning 69-62 at Loras despite 30 points from the Duhawks' Brian Centella. He hit a jumper to tie the game at 61 with 3:10 left, but the Beavers answered with the next six points and held Loras at arm's length. No. 8 Ithaca tied a school record for wins, improving to 22-1 with a 77-67 win against visiting St. John Fisher.
Kent Raymond has scored 24, 21, 29 and 28 in his past four games and No. 10 Wheaton (Ill.) helped put his injury behind them with an 86-60 rout at Illinois Wesleyan. After its loss Friday night, No. 11 Trinity (Texas) needed overtime to win at Hendrix, 71-67. No. 18 John Carroll and No. 14 Capital each won to remain a game apart in the OAC standings. Lawrence keeps steamrolling Midwest Conference opponents, beating No. 19 St. Norbert for the second time in 11 days, this time 65-38. The Vikings have beaten St. Norbert twice and Carroll once in a two-week span, by an average of 25.7 points. No. 20 Augustana lost at North Central 65-62 to slip into fourth place in the CCIW.
Gettysburg lost for the sixth time in eight games and Swarthmore won for just the second time all season as the Garnet silenced the Bullets 57-53. Farmingdale State won its 17th consecutive game, crushing Yeshiva 84-59. The Rams are 21-2. Bridgewater State increased its run to 11 in a row with an 80-72 overtime win against Worcester State. Will Conoley and Dustin Marshall scored 22 and 21 points respectively to lead Franklin past Mount St. Joseph 91-78 and keep the Grizzlies a game ahead of Defiance and Transylvania in the HCAC standings. Montclair State beat Rutgers-Newark 69-64 for its eighth consecutive win, clinching the NJAC North title and a first round bye in the conference playoffs.